Nick Peron

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Nomad (vol. 2) #5

Nick Peron

Dead Man’s Hand Part IV: Suicide Kings

Credits

This story continues from Punisher War Journal #45…

While investigating a meeting of organized crime in Las Vegas,[1] the Punisher has been attacked outside his hotel room by the Praetors a Neo-Nazi biker gang. Circled by the gang, the Punisher notices that their leader — Chainsaw — has a baby girl riding with him.[2] Unaware that this is Bucky, the young girl being protected by Nomad, the Punisher leaps in to rescue her anyway.[3] Using an extendable pole with a hook on the end to grab the baby, the Punisher also carves his skull insignia into Chainsaw’s chest as the two pass each other by. Deciding that this round goes to the Punisher, Chainsaw and his goons make a hasty retreat, leaving the vigilante to figure out what to do with the baby he just rescued.

In the city, Nomad is scouting out the area around where various members of organized crime as meeting. One the roof of one of the many hotel/casinos, Nomad runs into a number of Hand ninjas who begin attacking him. After his earlier encounter with Deadpool,[4] Jack has wisely lined the inside of his trench coat with steel pins to make them more durable against swords. In the ensuing fight two of the three ninjas go over the roof, but Nomad manages to pin down the third. However, before Jack can question him, the ninja does the Hand suicide trick and his body dissolves into nothingness. Monroe is more confused than ever and wonders if he should go looking for Daredevil and see if he can shed some light on what’s going on, but doesn’t have the slightest idea where to start looking.

Meanwhile, at Los Vegas International Airport, authorities have been called into a woman’s washroom where a someone has been shot. This woman is Legs a prostitute who works for the Underground, an organization that gives Nomad intel and helps him out on his missions. Luckily, the bullet only grazed the side of her head and she is still alive. While police try to figure out what went wrong and encourage Legs to have a doctor take a look at her injuries, she suddenly realizes that Bucky has gone missing.

Unaware of what went down, Nomad is still scoping things out and debating on if he should go through with the plan to kill the Slug, a Miami drug dealer, on behalf of SHIELD. Although he vowed to give up killing, Jack also needs to get the feds off his back, but isn’t sure if taking another life would be worth it.[5] That’s when he hears gunshots coming from the street below and takes a look. It’s the freelance mercinary known as Bushwacker who is going on a rampage, yelling something about someone stealing his baby. Having taken a sword from one of the Hand ninjas, Jack draws the weapon and leaps down and cuts the barrel off Bushwacker’s organic gun barrel. Monroe tries to get Bushwacker to make sense and figures out that the killer managed to nab Bucky earlier.

Given a moment to recover from Jack’s attack, Bushwacker then tries to grow a new gun barrel out of his hand. However, before he can squeeze off a shot he is struck by multiple bullets fired by the Punisher who has just arrived on the scene. Bushwacker demands that the Punisher return the baby to him — having confused Bucky with his sister-in-law’s kid, whom he was hired to recover from one of the mobsters in Las Vegas — but he discovers that his body has lost too much mass to create more bullets. Bushwacker then flees the scene and when the Punisher tries to follow after him, Jack stops him and demands he give Bucky back. He reasons with Frank, telling him that he can’t just chase after some maniac holding a baby. Castle silently considers the situation for a moment before handing Bucky over. Jack is unconcerned about Bushwacker anymore because he realizes that Legs is still somewhere in Las Vegas and might need some help.

While at a meeting room at the Palentine hotel/casino, the meeting between members of organized crime continues. The Voice — representing the Red Skull — wants to continue peaceful talks to carve up the Kingpin’s former empire. However, Hammerhead refuses to talk to anyone until he finds out who was responsible for firing shots on the roof of his hotel room and accuses the Hand’s Jonin of trying to assassinate him. The Voice gets everyone to calm down, telling them that it would be less expensive and bloody to sort things out in negotiation instead of engaging in a bloody gang war. She especially wants to maintain good relations with Werner Von Strucker’s Hyrda faction and the Fenris, as the Red Skull wishes it to be so out of respect of their late father, Baron Strucker.[6]

Meanwhile, Nomad has tracked down Legs at one of the local hospitals. He still believes that it is not safe for her or Bucky in Las Vegas and decides to escort them back to the airport himself to make sure they make it safely on a plane. Hopping into a taxi, the driver suddenly pulls them off the road to a mini-storage facility. That’s when the driver reveals he’s actually the Punisher in disguise. Castle has figured out that Nomad isn’t the legal guardian of Bucky and wants to know the truth about why he has a child that doesn’t belong to him. Jack explains how Bucky’s mother was a 17-year-old prostitute that is addicted to drugs and was involved in a blackmail scheme and unfit to raise the child.[7] Deciding that Jack is on the level, he removes the tracer he planted on Bucky and hands the keys to Legs. He tells her to drive to the hospital and get back to Los Angeles.

Once they are gone, the Punisher then attacks Jack and the two trade blows until Frank is convinced that Nomad is fit to look after Bucky.[8] With that, the Punisher opens a garage door to reveal that he has had his battle van stashed on the lot. The Punisher then says that he is heading back into the city to follow up on some business. When Jack asks for a ride, the Punisher takes off without him, leaving Monroe to hitchhike back into the city alone.

… This story continues in Daredevil #308.

Recurring Characters

Nomad, Punisher, The Hand, Bushwacker, Hammerhead, Werner Von Strucker, Fenris (Andreas and Andrea Von Strucker), Slug, Bucky, Legs, Praetors (Chainsaw)

Continuity Notes

  1. The various members of organized crime have been in Las Vegas to discuss dividing up the Kingpin’s former criminal empire since Daredevil #307. This story takes place shortly after Daredevil took down the Kingpin in Daredevil #297-300. He’ll be back in charge in New York City in Spider-Man/Kingpin: To the Death #1.

  2. When it was discovered that the Punisher was also in Las Vegas, the Secret Empire sent the Praetors to deal with him in Punisher War Journal #45.

  3. Bucky was kidnapped in by Bushwacker last issue and ended up in the hands of Chainsaw in Punisher War Journal #45.

  4. Jack fought the Merc With a Mouth last issue.

  5. The government has been pursuing Jack since he screwed up their attempt to build a cybernetic gun in Nomad #1-4. They convinced him to go after the Slug in Nomad (vol. 2) #3.

  6. At the time of this story, the world at large believes that Baron Struck perished in Strange Tales #158. While this was the case, Hydra was later able to resurrect him, as seen in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD (vol. 3) #20-21. However, upon his return from the dead, the Baron decided to keep his resurrection a secret for a time. The elder Strucker will go public again after deeming Werner a failure and killing him in Daredevil #309.

  7. Nomad debatably rescued Bucky from her mother back in Nomad #3.

  8. Jack demands to know what makes the Punisher an authority on looking after children. Frank responds by saying “nothing — anymore.” This is in reference to the fact that Frank’s family was murdered by mobsters as explained in Marvel Preview #2.

Topical References

  • A number of real life casinos appear in the various establishing shots if Las Vegas in this story, some of which are no longer there anymore. They include the Dunes Hotel and Casino (shut down in 1993), The Frontier (closed in 1998), Ceasar’s Palace (which is still open as of this writing in October, 2022), and the Flamingo Las Vegas (also still open). Regardless of their status, all of these should be considered topical references as they are real world businesses, the ones still in operation could change names or go out of business at some point in the future.

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